Cheers Darlin'
by Ophelias dream
Summary: She stood up, glancing back, he raised his glass to her. Her eyes lingering for but a moment, she walked away and he downed his glass slumping down in his chair. Watching the door. Waiting. Waiting for redemption to come back through the door. Implied DG
1. Prologue

Authors Note: Listen to Damien Rice's Cheers Darlin' while reading, I think it just sets the mood better then words could ever do it . I disclaim again and again and once more again! I love this song.

**_Prologue_**

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_They couldn't have kept it up anyways; an affair maybe, cheating he could have done for her. But marriage? He wouldn't break that bond, especially if it was her own choice. If she had once told him it was for a different cause, not even a better one, he would have done it for her. If she could have just said it was for money but she didn't lie. She was agreeing to it and he hated the man she would spend the rest of her life with, not just because everyone loved that man, not because that man always bested him in everything. He hated that man because for once he had done better than him, for once he had done the right thing; and by doing the right thing, that man got to be happy, with his girl. _


	2. Cheers Darlin'

I had to fix this one up... it was even beginning to bother ME!

Cheers Darlin'

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_Cheers darlin'  
Here's to you and your lover boy_

He sat in a chair at the bar; the same bar, the same bar stool, always the same. He could never leave this place, no matter how much it haunted him the music, the smell, the faces, he needed it all because he needed to drown in his memories.

"Hey," The man behind the bar stopped in front of him "Where's your girl this week?"

Lifting his head he look at the man who had unknowingly witnessed the happiest and most agonizingly painful moments of his life and in his heart he hated this man. He hated him for 30 seconds before he couldn't handle it anymore. He couldn't handle feeling, even if it was hate.

"She doesn't come around here anymore, haven't you noticed yet?" his scratchy voice managed to say.

"Yea, I noticed," the bartender said, going about his work thoughtfully; he paused for a few seconds "so what's the story?" he asked. The young man that sat before him came every weekend, the first time he came alone, the second time he came with a girl and they came every week after that but for the past few weeks his girl hadn't been coming. The young man was obviously dying, he was deteriorating, his looks, once smooth and well groomed were now but of the richest of rags and his attitude was that of a man who had nothing left but his glass and bottle. He didn't know how else to help the poor young man other than to let it off his chest. But even before he heard the mans story he knew that some wounds just don't heal.

The young man sat on his bar stool a few more minuets, sipping his whisky and smoking his cigarette listening to the band, lost for a few brief moments, waiting and remembering.

_Cheers darlin'  
I got years to wait around for you_

With his eyes closed and his arms wrapped around her waist, he soaked in the feeling of just standing their swaying to the music with her. They were in a little restaurant, the kind you pass by on a street; not run down and dirty but not shiny and new either; the perfect place for what he always called, loves most perfect affair.

As they swayed, he smiled, resting his chin on the top of her head and all in a moment he tried to breathe her in; her essence, her scent; he wanted to remember her. Because tonight—tonight he was going to do the right thing and he didn't want to forget one thing about her after it was over. Before it was over tough he still had this one last night with her.

_Cheers darlin'  
I've got your wedding bells in my ear_

Sitting across from her at their table that night had been one of the best and worst times of his life. They sat and they talked a little but mostly they just soaked each other in, he soaked it all in but it wasn't enough.

There was one moment that night where she looked at him with a small smile and all he could do was return it and hope she could read what he was feeling through his eyes. Maybe then he wouldn't have to follow through with it. Maybe he wouldn't have to end the best thing of his life.

_Cheers darlin'  
You gave me three cigarettes to smoke my tears away_

"I love you," she said. She'd said it. She loved him; maybe they wouldn't have to end it. Love prevails always, doesn't it? Doesn't love conquer all?

"I love you... more than I will ever love Harry you know." She added with a sad look. The world came crashing down. She loved him, she loved him more but not enough to call the charade off because she loved Harry too. How could she? How could she love them both?

And I die when you mention his name

She'd given him no choice. He stood up and extended his hand to her. As she took it, he pulled her into his embrace and whispered into her ear. To anyone else it would have looked like a secret but for him it was goodbye.

"Give me one more dance?"

"Always." she whispered back.

It killed him, she loved him and he knew it and she had no idea what he was about to do to her.

They swayed to the music, holding each other; one tortured mind grasping onto the last thing that kept him alive, the other dreaming of romance in her head, not expecting what was to come next.

"It's been a mistake, you know that?" he said softly, so he could give her one last secret.

She shivered, grasping his hand tighter. Closing her eyes trying to block out what he was trying to tell her. What she now understood was about to happen.

"It isn't a mistake," she whispered hoarsely "we were made for each other, don't you remember?" secrets between lovers are so touching.

"I remember kissing you in the rain," he paused trying to soak up whatever he could before it was over because in a second he might not even have a secret to tell, "I remember making a mistake."

_And I lied, I should have kissed you  
When we were runnin' in the rain_

He could feel her body trembling and her anger rising, he could hear the tears coming before she even spoke. He knew he was hurting her but he had to do it. Because she was getting married, it hurt him, it hurt him that she was getting married and it hurt him that he had to hurt her. Adultery was not a sin he would live with, no matter how much he hated that man, she chose him.

"Is that what you think? That we're a mistake?" she asked shakily.

"Aren't we? If we aren't, then what are we? What am I?" he asked her, finally pulling away looking at her.

_What am I darlin'?  
A whisper in your ear?_

"Am I just a side dish on the menu? Am I the main course?" he looked down at her, begging her to answer, "or am I a guilty pleasure?" he added in a deep whisper. He wasn't holding her any more. She was looking at the floor, her shoes; whatever it was she was looking at it wasn't his face. Reaching over he lifted her chin forcing her eyes to meet his.

"It doesn't matter does it? Cause all you think of us as is a mistake. We're just a mistake." She looked at him blankly for a few seconds and waited for him to talk. When he just stared her gaze turned angry, she turned away and started to gather her things.

He followed her with his eyes and grabbed her coat from the back of her chair. He walked her to the door and before she could open it he put his arm out and blocked the way, he turned slightly, lightly shoved the coat into her hands and rested his forehead on hers.

"The most perfect mistake made in heaven," he said, staring at her and he lingered for half a second, his gaze firmly on hers, fighting the urge to kiss her and then walked away. His eyes locked on hers until he was out of the door, out of their refuge and then he his gaze dropped and he was gone.

_A piece of your cake?  
What am I, darlin?_

Every weekend they'd returned to each other, they had returned to their refuge. She still came the next weekend. She still loved him.

She stepped in and hesitantly looked at their table but it was empty, she thought it would be. She turned and looked around at the place that had so easily become their refuge from the world, from prying eyes and judgmental gazes. The solitude and happiness these four walls contained was innumerable; she tried to think of all the happy moments she had had there, glancing around from the tables, to the band, to the waiters but as her eyes fell on the bar, all thoughts stopped because their he was. The real reason. He must have already been there for hours, sitting at the bar drinking.

She quickly went to him and she touched his shoulder.

"Go away." his voice slurred a little but still came out harsh her body recoiled a little but she left her arm on his shoulder.

"Is that what you want?" she asked quietly, gently pulling his body to face her. His back stiffened but he didn't turn. Her voice had jarred him but he remained stiff and stone cold. She waited a few minuets and then she shook him. "Is that what you want?" she asked, loudly this time.

Turning around he yelled at her "What do YOU want, huh? Don't come here and ask me what I want, you know what I want. But this isn't about me is it? It's about you and your lover, your husband to be, Potter. " he spat out the last word with more then disdain.

She stepped back, frightened. She'd seen him angry before but never at her and never this bad. She stepped back because of his anger but she was afraid of his words, she couldn't process them, it was too much.

"Maybe it was a mistake." she said unevenly, backing away a little more.

Watching her cower away from him, his lips lifted in a cynical smirk. "Are you frightened of me Ginerva?"

_The boy you can fear?  
Or your biggest mistake?_

"Should I be?" she asked faintly looking at him meaningfully. She looked at him for a few moments and smiled a small sad smile and she sat next to him.

"I love you." she said, not really knowing what she hoped to accomplish by saying it or if it even meant anything anymore. All she knew was it was true and once upon a time she thought that was enough.

He laughed at that, "Cheers Darling!" he said, raising his glass.

"To a mistake made in heaven."

She just stared at him, not knowing what to do or say. He was right, it was a mistake but it was all so perfect.

_Cheers darlin'  
Here's to you and your lover man_

She walked out of their refuge that night and didn't come back until the weekend before her wedding.

He on the other hand, came back every weekend knowing she wouldn't be there, knowing she wouldn't come back; he always came anyways. He was always there. Always sitting at the bar, drinking his troubles away.

_Cheers darlin'  
I just hang around and eat from a can_

He and the bartender sat in silence for some time.

"It's today you know" he said.

Not getting a response he repeated.

"It's today, they're getting married today." He set down his glass and stared at it.

"I know," the man said, and started wiping a glass, looking at his surprised customers face, he gave the young man a sad smile, "Everyone knows." He added.

Slumping down defeated, the young man looked up again.

"And I'm still sitting here, on the hope she might come back."

"I'm still waiting, after I messed it all up." He yelled.

"Let me tell you something, I've seen you two, the way you look at each other and that ain't something I've seen before. You had that special something everyone is looking for. Heaven you called it, right?" The half drunken man nodded and the bartender looked at him intensely, "That's what the world's waiting for, what you had but even that, the way you would have had it, it wasn't right. And believe me, I know, the right thing isn't always the easiest thing but in your heart you know its right."

Looking up the heartbroken lover just nodded and left his refuge for the day, always to come back the next week and wait. The bartender watched him walk out and hoped he wouldn't keep waiting for too long.

_Cheers darlin'  
I got a ribbon of green on my guitar_

It'd been a year since she'd left him for her husband, looking around at what was once their refuge he sat at the bar and ordered his drink.

"You gonna eat tonight?" the bartender asked.

"Do I ever eat?" he asked with a faint smirk on his face.

"Worth a shot." the bartender grinned back.

"You're a good guy." the young man said.

Lifting an eyebrow the bartender just looked back at the man he had come to know and pity, while he waited for whatever came next. Smiling the young man stared back for a while.

"Just telling you, I'm not coming back here anymore. You know my story and maybe we've shared a handful of two word conversations after that even thought that was it, I'm gonna miss you for some sick reason" he grinned faintly before dropping it and looking around the room again.

"You ain't waiting anymore?" the bartender asked carefully.

Looking at the table they always reserved and the spot they always danced at; without turning his head back to the conversation he replied "No, I'll always be waiting. But I'm getting married" he turned back looking at the man who'd seen him at his worst and best with blank eyes.

"I'm not even in love. But I'm getting married."

The bartender stared back.

"You do what you think is right."

The young man nodded

"I'm trying." and drank his last whisky and sat on his stool until the restaurant closed.

Before he left, he took out a letter, turnning it over he wrote a few lines and sealed it in an envelope. Standing up he slid the envelope across the bar, "You give this to her if she ever comes back." He said and he walked out of their refuge.

_Cheers darlin'  
I got a beauty queen  
To sit not very far from me_

One year after she'd left the love of her life, for the picture perfect man she stood outside their refuge. But she couldn't go in. Not after all this time.

Marriage was failing her, her husband and her just weren't in love like they'd been. She'd tasted heaven and now no matter where she went the wine never made her so high as it did then.

Turning and walking away from the little restaurant, she sat in a new glitzy restaurant down the street sitting by the window she watched, waiting, hoping he'd come out the door – she just needed to know if he still went, she just needed to know if he still loved her.

She watched him leave at ten o'clock, she smiled and left her the luxury of the high-class society she'd joined for the night and went home.

_I die when he comes around  
To take you home_

The next week, she entered the refuge looking around she sat at the bar. And she waited.

Looking up, the bartenders shook his head sadly and watched all night as the lady waited, her posture slowly slumping as if her will was dying.

"Hey," the bartender said softly "we're closing up now."

"Cl—closing?" her eyes panicking "No! You can't close yet, just wait, a few more minuets." she pleaded.

Shaking his head again he pulled out a letter and handed it to her.

"He ain't coming here no more."

_I'm too shy  
I should have kissed you when we were alone_

Shakily opening the envelope she read the letter and her body shook but she didn't cry until she turned it over and read the back.

_I got a new girl now and she's every man's dream. But she isn't you, I don't think I'll ever love her. But seeing as I can't have you I thought that this would have to do._

_I'm still always waiting, just can't sit here forever. I'm always waiting; I just can't keep haunting this spot._

_She's not you, that's why I'm leaving her but if I can't have you, I can't sit and wait here forever. _

_You have a life your living and a lover to give your love too. I'm waiting for you from where we came from. I'll see you in Heaven._

_What am I darlin'?  
A whisper in your ear?  
A piece of your cake?  
What am I, darlin?  
The boy you can fear?_

Looking back at the bartender, she let herself cry. She just stood there and cried.

"Sit down," the bartender said, "Let me tell you a story about a man I knew."

_Or your biggest mistake?  
Oh what am I? What am I darlin'?  
I got years to wait..._

"… And as she stood up, glancing back, he raised his glass to her. Her eyes lingering for but a moment, she walked away; and he downed his glass slumping down in his chair. Watching the door. Waiting. Waiting for redemption to come back through the door. Just waiting."

Staring back at the bartender she couldn't move, it was like everything that made life possible was gone, the air was sucked out of her lungs and her heart stopped. She looked down at his letter and got up to leave.

"Hey," the bartender said softly. Turning around and looking at him, he said "The right thing isn't always the easiest thing but in your heart you know it's right."

"But there's only so much of a broken heart a man can take."

She nodded and walked out of their refuge, it haven't saved either of them.

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End file.
